Before leaving for StartupIstanbul, Public Journalism Club held a special training for the participants, with the aim to develop their practical skills in negotiations, establishing stable business relationships with entrepreneurs and attracting the investors through startup pitching. A separate training was also held about intercultural communication, during which participants got acquainted with the cultural, political and social-economic peculiarities of Turkey, discussed the development process and the current issues of Turkey-Armenia relations.

The “StartupIstanbul” Forum will be a unique opportunity for the newly established ICT companies from Armenia to network with venture capitalists, angel investors, mentors and experienced professionals and to showcase their own startup products.

StartupIstanbul is the leading startup event, which brings together founders, investors and executives in the region. The event is an exclusive gathering of the leading startups, internet companies, angel investors and venture capitalists from Europe, Middle East, Western Asia and the USA where startups from different countries have an opportunity to present their innovative business ideas, get advice from international experts and maintain business relations with investors.

The Armenia-based startups will also have separate booths during the Forum, showcasing not only their startup products, but also the ICT ecosystem of Armenia.

The “Scycryptor” and “EarlyOne” startups were chosen as Startup100, and will have the opportunity to personally present their ideas to mentors. Upon being selected, 50 startups out of the 100 will pitch to the investors on the 8th of October and compete to be one of the 15 finalists who will be on the stage of Volkswagen Arena on 10th October.

Public Journalism Club’s booth also hosted five special startups - ''ArmNomads'', ''Fortune Cup'', ''HY PICTURES'', ''LiTech'', “DressZone”, which are involved in the Armenian delegation of “StartupIstanbul”.

Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) in collaboration with TOG (Community Volunteers Foundation, Turkey) organised an exchange visit of Armenia-based youth workers and volunteers to Istanbul, Izmit and Eskişehir on July 18-23, 2017 implemented as a part of EPF’s YouthBank activity within the framework of programme Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process, funded by the European Union.